ABOUT OUR COURSES
- Programs of Study
- How Our Courses Work
- The statistics.com Learning Style
- Faculty
- Prerequisites
- Assessment and Certificates
- Credit
- Time Requirement
- Homework
- Use of Software
- Communications with Instructors
- Questions about your Data
- Academic Discounts
- Quantity Discounts
- Withdrawal From a Course
- Transfer to Another Course
- Course Cancellation
Programs of Study:
Statistics.com offers a variety of Professional Advancement Programs in statistics, with course work typically at the introductory or master's level. All courses are presented online, with guided readings, assignments, homework feedback, plus a private discussion board, which permits communication with the instructor. While courses are in session on a scheduled set of dates, participation in the course during this period occurs at times that are convenient to the student.To earn a program certificate in a specific area (environmental statistics, data mining, biostatistics, etc.) you first enroll in the program, then register for the prescribed courses at your convenience.
You may also take any single course, without being enrolled in a Professional Advancement Program.
How Our Courses Work:
Statistics.com courses have 3 main elements: (1) Weekly lessons with assigned readings (usually in a text, sometime supplemented by additional materials online), (2) Private online discussion board for all students and the instructor, and (3) Homework assignments with feedback. On the first day, the private course web site becomes available to all students, and the course begins. You participate during the week at times convenient to you, as there are no set times when you must be online. Post your questions on the discussion board, and the instructor, along with other participants, will respond with answering posts. The discussion board is the heart of the course.At the end of the week, the homework is due and the assignment is closed. The model answers are then displayed, and feedback is offered on students' homework individually. If you are not able to complete an assignment before it closes, there is no need to tell the instructor, simply continue to work on the assignment, and then compare it to the model answer when it is revealed. Also at the end of the week, the next week's readings and homework are posted, and the process repeats itself.
On the last day of the course the instructor posts a concluding message. You will continue to have access to the full course (lessons, materials, discussion boards and assignments) for at least two more weeks, so that you may fully review it.
Note that in many of our courses, the instructor is, in fact, the author of the required text. Therefore, it is natural that many of our courses rely heavily on the required text and its exercises.
The statistics.com Learning Style:
The statistics.com course model was conceived as a cross between the "buy a book and try to master the subject on your own" approach, and the "attend a class and receive concentrated instruction for 3-4 days." Successful statistics.com learners are those who take an active approach to their learning projects, are comfortable working from written materials and "learn by doing." There are no lectures, and much of the value of statistics.com courses lies in doing the exercises, getting feedback, and interacting with your fellow students and the instructor. The ability to organize your time and effort with some discipline is also helpful. The flexibility to work at your own convenience is a great advantage; still, a regular, paced attention to the course over its duration allows sufficient turnaround time to address questions. The instructor and your fellow students will be attending the discussion board on their own schedules, and may not be available for an immediate response. The ability to "multitask" in your learning (by proceeding on to topic B while your question about topic A is resolved) is helpful in this respect.
Faculty:
Statistics.com instructors are top experts in their fields; many of them have published leading books in these fields. Statistics.com courses offer a unique opportunity to interact with these experts for weeks at a time. For a complete list, click here
Prequisites:
Please click here for information about the prerequisites that are listed for certain courses at statistics.com.
Assessment and Certificates
All courses include homework and, in some cases, tests, and, while all homework and tests are marked, the importance of those marks is solely dependent on what your goals are in the course.Those whose sole interest is in learning new statistical methods, and who do not need proof of course attendance or certification of subject mastery, need not worry about marks at all.
Certificate of Course Completion: Those who desire a Certificate of Course Completion at the end of the course must generally receive marks of 50% or better. This certificate attests to the fact that you participated in and did most of the work in a course.
CEU's (Continuing Education Credit Units) are granted in accord with the length of the course -- a 4-week course at 5 CEU's and a 3-week course at 3.75 CEU's (CEU's are defined in accordance with the citation of the Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training).
During the final week of every course, a "Course Evaluation" form is posted at the course website. When this form is filled in and submitted, a second form "Certificate Request" is presented. Should you need/want/qualify for a Certificate of Completion, this second form must be filled out entirely, and submitted online.
Please note: Certificates of Completion are only sent upon receipt of this form, and only if the requisite marks are obtained.
Professional Advancement Program Students: Participants registered for Professional Advancement Programs will receive grades in relevant courses, and will need to show mastery of the subject, as evidenced by passing grades in those courses.
Credit:
Please click here for information about receiving credit for courses at statistics.com.Time Requirement:
Statistics.com courses typically require about 7-15 hours per week. This is just an estimate that is based upon a comparison between material covered in a statistics.com course, in a typical semester-length graduate course in statistics, and in a typical 3-day professional development course. The amount of time you actually spend working in a statistics.com course can vary widely, depending on your familiarity with the statistical underpinnings of the topic, your own comfort with the topic, and the depth to which you choose to study and explore the topic. Some course participants focus intently on the topic and are careful to complete all assignments and participate actively in discussion, others are content mainly to observe, picking and choosing the individual parts of the course to which their interest draws them.
Homework:
All courses provide homework exercises to help students grasp the concepts being presented. They are left open for a week, during which time students provide answers. Then they are closed and in most cases model answers and/or feedback is given. The closed assignment, its model answers, and feedback remain available to all students until the course ends. There is no need to inform the instructor or course administrator if you have not done an assignment by its due date. Also see the "Use of Software" section below.Late Homework: If you cannot complete the assignment by the specified time, please do it anyway and save the document in which you record your answers. Then compare your answers to posted model answers. There is no need to tell the course administrator or the instructor that you are not turning in homework. Homework is not accepted for grading after answers have been posted, but most courses offer a "free pass" on one homework assignment.
Use of Software:
Where appropriate, statistics.com courses provide for the use of statistical software to analyze problems. The use of software falls roughly into several categories:
- Introductory courses that assume no software background and do some "hand-holding" for certain packages
- Courses that do not require software
- Courses that require general purpose software like SAS, SPSS, etc.
- Courses that require specialized software
- Courses that use R
For courses that require general purpose software, the assumption is that you are somewhat familiar with one of these software packages and have used it. These courses may offer limited help with the implementation of specific procedures relevant to the course, but will not teach you how to install and use the software. Most software vendors offer introductory tutorials (either in documentation, online courses or in-person workshops), and we recommend you take advantage of one of these options before you start your statistics.com course, if you are unfamiliar with the software. "R" is an exception -- statistics.com offers a number of courses designed specifically to teach R.
For courses that require speciliazed software, some help is available, though there is an assumption that you are are computer literate and familiar with some statistical software.
In any case, be sure to check the "Software" secion of the course description.
In some cases, statistics.com has made arrangements with particular vendors to provide software at no charge, or nominal charge, for participants in a particular course. Check this list of software used in statistics.com courses. In most cases, participants can use their own software, or use trial (demo) versions of commercial software. Instructors tend to be familiar with a limited number of packages and so software illustrations in some courses may use those packages. Also, even comprehensive packages like SAS and SPSS may not offer all methods covered in a particular course. Instructors are available to answer your questions about statistical concepts and methods, but are not typically expected to help debug student software work. In some cases, the teaching assistant may be able to help. With some more open-ended projects involving the use of software, feedback on use of the software may not be part of the scope of the course. Check the course description, and, if necessary, query the course administrator at the beginning of your course if you have any questions about software use and support.
Communications with Instructors:
Students are encouraged to participate in the class by asking questions and making comments. This is done via the open discussion board, so all students benefit, as opposed to private individual student/instructor dialog. Students use pseudonyms when participating, so there is no concern about appearing to ask an unintelligent question. Instructors will check the board at least every other workday -- for both instructors and students, one of the great attractions of this online format is that you need not attend to the discussion board at any particular time of day, which means some time may elapse between a posting and a response. Note: the "email administrator" link is used only for administrative questions about course access, payment, etc. Emails sent to this link only go to the course administrator.
Questions About Your Data:
You may have data or problems that you want to ask the instructor about. Most instructors welcome the opportunity to discuss the course topics in the context of real problems faced by students. If your data are a suitable illustration or extension of one of the course topics, the instructor (at his or her discretion) may use them. When you supply your data, please also furnish permission from the appropriate authority for the data to be publicly shared. If your data cannot be shared publicly, or if your problem requires a more involved analysis that goes beyond the scope of the course, you also have the option of seeking a consulting arrangement. Some instructors will do this, others will not - contact statistics.com for details.
Academic Discounts:
Many courses offer discounts for those in academia. You must be either a full-time faculty member or a full-time student at one of the following: (1) A degree-granting college or university that accepts enrollment from the public, (2) A public or private primary or secondary school (K-12 in the US). (Note: discount offers cannot be combined)
Quantity Discounts:
We offer two types of quantity discounts:(1) For most statistics.com courses, multiple participants registering for the same course from a single company pay the first tuition at the corporate rate, with each additional tuition paying the academic rate. Contact courses@statistics.com to learn if a particular course qualifies.
(2) When a single participant takes multiple courses in a year, the first two courses are charged at the regular tuition rate (either corporate or academic), and the third course taken within the same 12 month period as the first two is offered at a $100 discount off the regular tuition rate (either corporate or academic). If you believe you qualify for this quantity discount, contact courses@statistics.com prior to registering for your third course, to see if you do.
Note: Basic Concepts in Probability and Statistics, Introduction to Statistics 1 - Inference for a Single Variable, and Introduction to Statistics 2 - Working with Bivariate Data have their own package pricing and are not eligible for the above discounts.
(Note: discount offers cannot be combined with each other)